A guide for employers
Maternity leave in Sri Lanka: an employer's guide
The entitlement depends on which law covers the employee, and the amount of pay differs between the two.
Which law applies
Office staff, or factory and estate staff.
Two laws cover maternity, and which one applies turns on the workplace, not the job title. The Shop and Office Employees Act covers clerical, commercial and office staff. The Maternity Benefits Ordinance covers factory, estate and manual workers.
A single company can have people under each: the accounts office under the Shop and Office Act, the production floor under the Ordinance. The length of leave is the same under both; the pay differs, as below.
The entitlement
Eighty-four working days for a live birth.
A female employee is entitled to eighty-four working days of paid maternity leave for a live birth, usually taken as up to fourteen days before the birth and seventy after. Because these are working days, weekly holidays, Poya days and public holidays fall outside the count, which stretches the calendar span to about four months.
Pay differs by law. Office staff under the Shop and Office Act receive their full salary. Workers under the Ordinance receive six-sevenths of their wages. Either way the employer funds it, as there is no state maternity scheme.
Live birth, and where there is not
Every live birth carries the full entitlement.
The full eighty-four days applies to every live birth, whatever the number of existing children. The older reduction for a third or later child was removed in 2018 and no longer applies.
Where there is no live birth, through miscarriage or stillbirth, a lower entitlement of forty-two working days applies, taken as fourteen days before and twenty-eight after.
Covering the absence
Plan the cover before the leave starts.
The entitlement is fixed by law; how much the absence disrupts the team is not. The notice before the birth gives lead time to arrange cover, whether that is a fixed-term relief hire for the four-month span or the duties shared across the team with a short handover. On return, a mother nursing a child under one is entitled to two nursing intervals within the working day, so plan the return around that.
Dismissal protection. An employee cannot be dismissed by reason only of pregnancy or confinement. The protection applies from the first day of employment and covers those on probation.
This guide is general information for employers, not legal advice, and does not create a client relationship. Sri Lankan law and the applicable figures change, and how they apply depends on your circumstances. Confirm your position with a qualified adviser before acting.